The House of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #1

House: Chapter 25

Twenty-five

After breakfast the next morning, I asked if I could go outside. I didn't want to spend my last day in the hospital cooped up. The storm from the previous day refreshed everything. The air was cooler, but shimmering. An orderly wheeled me to an enclosed garden on the east side of the hospital, where the morning sun shined brightly. I brought along the little black box - I couldn't seem to put it down - and I settled myself into a lounge chair and turned on the cd player that Tia sent to me. Soft piano music drifted through the headphones, teasing my agitated state. The morning was chilly, but I wrapped up in a soft blanket, and I dozed to the sound of Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake."

I was startled awake to Jennie shaking my legs. It was later in the morning; the sun was half-way to its peak in the sky. I sat up, feeling very groggy, and removing the headphones. The first thing out of Jennie's mouth was, "You told him, didn't you?"

"What?" I wiped the sleep out of my eyes.

"Last night, Ashley told me that Mr. Blake wasn't here - at the hospital with you. Normally, I wouldn't believe that Ashley would be concerned about something like that, but she was." She shook my legs again when she saw my lids droop again. "Hey, wake up! You told him, didn't you," she repeated.

"Not everything," I said with sleepy guilt. Surely those sleeping pills are not still working. She huffed at me and sat in the chair next to my lounger. I sat up and adjusted my seating position, rubbing my eyes and brushing the hair out of my face. My earrings, still wrapped in my fingers, dropped to my lap. I had cotton-mouth again and asked her to get me some water. She returned a few minutes later with a plastic pitcher and a cup.

"Thank you," I told her, gulping down the cold water. She began pacing the garden, her shoes squishing in the still wet grass.

"How did he take it?" She asked after her second turn around the little garden. We were alone. The patients from earlier that morning must have been returned to their rooms.

"He was very calm."

She sucked air through her teeth. "Aah, that's bad. When Mr. Blake is really upset, he gets that way." She looked up at me, seeing me near the verge of sobbing, although I refused to let the tears form. "Oh, Min, everything will be okay."

I nodded, although her reassuring words meant nothing at that moment. She hadn't seen his face. She hadn't seen him walk away without a backward glance. But she continued to guarantee that the situation must not be so terrible.

"Maybe he just needed some time to think about it. What exactly did you tell him?"

"It's what I showed him. I manipulated him. I turned on his Reasoning to full blast - and by the way, his highest level is close to what yours is normally." I gave her a small smile that didn't reach my eyes.

"Gee, thanks," she said sarcastically.

"And I told him what I am," I proceeded. "But not how I came to be or any of the other stuff. We didn't get that far."

"And he just left?" This confused her. Maybe she didn't expect him to act that way. I didn't know what to expect, but I had found out.

"Yeah."

"Did you try to call him?"

"No." I plucked at my blanket.

"Should I, you think?" She didn't look like she anticipated that conversation.

"Um, no. He knows that you know." Again, I gave her a guilty look. She pursed her lips again, and the frown line on her forehead deepened. "Sorry," I said quietly.